Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Weibo (NASDAQ:WB)

Weibo Co. (NASDAQ:WB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 9,305 call options on the company. This is an increase of 391% compared to the average volume of 1,896 call options.

Weibo Stock Down 9.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ WB traded down $0.86 during trading on Thursday, hitting $8.08. 1,010,168 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,288,054. The business’s fifty day moving average is $9.11 and its 200 day moving average is $10.24. Weibo has a fifty-two week low of $7.84 and a fifty-two week high of $18.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.51.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The information services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.14). Weibo had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 19.47%. The business had revenue of $463.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $452.30 million. Equities research analysts predict that Weibo will post 1.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weibo Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on WB. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $10.60 target price on shares of Weibo in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Bank of America cut shares of Weibo from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $19.50 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Weibo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Weibo from $13.60 to $9.80 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Weibo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $12.90 to $11.50 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Weibo presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.98.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weibo

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its position in Weibo by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 48,602 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 15,715 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Weibo by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,855,298 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,266,000 after purchasing an additional 38,749 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Weibo by 199.1% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,075,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,675,000 after acquiring an additional 2,047,135 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Weibo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $177,000. Finally, GTS Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Weibo by 117.9% during the 4th quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 38,987 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 21,097 shares during the last quarter. 68.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weibo Company Profile

Weibo Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a social media platform for people to create, distribute, and discover content in the People's Republic of China. It operates in two segments, Advertising and Marketing Services; and Value-Added Services. The company offers discovery products to help users discover content on its platform; self-expression products that enable its users to express themselves on its platform; and social products to promote social interaction between users on its platform.